This isn't irony, it's plain theft

[lutonianbill]

I mentioned my taking bags of goods to charity shops recently. What I didn't mention is that I occasionally also fill up the bags from the "charity collectors will pick this up from your house on Xday" that get posted through my letterbox occasionally. (I seem to get far less here in the new house, when I lived closer to town they arrived almost

Comments

[hitchhiker]

takes a really scummy person to steal from a charity :(

[lutonianbill]

There might actually be a bit of irony in this after all. Today I checked the later leaflet from the suspected culprits and discovered it was delivered by an 'appointed agent' for a proper charity. So if it was them, they might actually be stealing stuff from one charity and giving part of the proceeds to another. They're definitely guilty of ripping off people though - they promise that £65 per tonne of clothes will go to the charity - the Air Ambulance people promise £105 per tonne. Still seems rather low to me, I've seen how much these clothes typically go for when they reach an actual charity shop - I've probably spent £50 on clothes from such shops this year so far, and have definitely not bought half a tonne of them!

I still need to talk to the Air Ambulance people to save them a wasted journey, but I'm now also considering stopping all doorstep donations/collections. Which will benefit the charity shops I do frequent, but will be a bit of a loss to those without a high-street presence.

[hitchhiker]

maybe you could arrange with a local corner store or something to drop your stuff off there and have the air ambulance people pick it up? removes the "just lying there" temptation for an opportunistic thief

[lutonianbill]

Unfortunately my local corner store is about a mile away, and there's a hill involved. I think I should use my new-found confidence and talk to my neighbours.